THE GREAT HALL is the only budding completed thus far in the reconstruction of Grand Portage. A replica of a 34-foot Montreal canoe and one of a fur press are in the foreground. GRAND PORTAGE m the Revolutionary War

Nancy L. Woolworth

URING THE American Revolution the only mdi- tary activity in what is now Minnesota occurred at NOW THAT the bicentennial of the American Revolution is officially Grand Portage on the North Shore of Lake under way, Minnesota History presents this special issue as its D Superior. For a few months in 1778 this remote fur contribution to the observance. Since Minnesota was largely a wil­ trade post in the northeastern corner of the state derness domain of Indian tribes and fur traders in 1775 and the served as tbe western terminus for the British military years following, it had very modest direct connections with the war. on the northern Great Lakes. How did this come Such as it had, however, are covered in this issue — a small military expedition to Grand Portage in 1778, northern boundary dif­ about? Why were Lieutenant Thomas Bennett. Sergeant ficulties that stemmed from geographical ignorance of peace A. Langdown, and five soldiers of the King's Eighth negotiators at the end of the war, and burial of one lone Revo­ Regiment of Foot sent to Grand Portage in the summer lutionary War veteran in Minnesota, Also treated in this issue are of 1778? Minnesota Historical Society holdings from the period of the The answer must be sought in British fur trade activi­ American Revolution and ramifications of the bicentennial obser­ ty, which began at Grand Portage shortly after the sur­ vance in Minnesota and the nation, — Ed, render of Montreal ended the French and Indian War in 1760. With the British victory, EngHsh traders in Al­ bany, New York, and Montreal, Quebec, hoping to take over the French trade of the Northwest, were delighted when British Generals Jeffrey Amherst and James Mur­ ' During the French regime, the trade was tightly controlled ray declared in the fall of 1760 that tbe trade would by means of royal licenses, limited in number. For a useful henceforth be open to both French and British sub­ survey, see Rhoda R. Gilman, "The Fur Trade in the Upper jects.' Mississippi Valley, f630-f850," in Wiscon.sin Magazine of His­ tory, 58:,3-8 (Autumn, 1974). On the British, see Marjorie G. One of the avant-garde of British traders attracted to Jackson, "The Beginning of British Trade at Michilimackinac, " the Lake Superior area was Alexander Henry, the elder, in Minnesota History, 11:239 (September, 19,30) and Wayne E, a merchant working with the commissariat of General Stevens, The Northwest Fur Trade 1763-1800, 14-41 (Urbana, Amhersfs army. On August 3, 1761, Henry received a Illinois, 1928), personal pass from General Thomas Gage, governor of Montreal, that permitted him to engage in the fur trade. Mrs. Woolworth holds a nuister's degree in history from the Following the Ottawa River route, Henry made his way Univer.sity of Michigan. She is author of The White Bear westward in the fall of 1761 to Fort Michilimackinac, the Lake Story, "The Grand Portage Mission: 1731-1965," pub­ lished in the Winter, 1965, issue of Minnesota History, and post at the Straits of Mackinac which the British that of other articles for historical and archaeological publications. vear took over from tbe French and which was to serve.

Summer 1975 199 Fort William CANADA

THE ONLY MILITARY activity during LAKE SUPERIOR the Revolutionary War in what is now Minnesota was prompted by the impor­ Sault Ste. Marie tance of the fur trade and of Grand Portage Fort St. Joseph as a rendezvous. Men and supplies were SPATES shipped from Fort Michilimackinac and Detroit for this brief engagement in the

Fort Charlotte summer of 1778.

^qij^S Grand Portage LAKE HURON

\ Fort Mackinac WISCONSIN fikW*'' swafts ol»*

• Fort Detroit Michilimackinac

for more than thirty years as the British military and ad­ a state of extreme reciprocal hostility, each pursuing his ministrative headquarters in the northern Great Lakes. interests in such a manner as might most injure his There he combined EngHsb capital with French- neighbour. The consequences, " Henr>' added, "were Canadian knowledge of the trade routes, sending French- very hurtful to the morals of the Indians. "* Canadian clerks and interpreters "into Lake Superior, In 1775 Henry, Peter Pond, and the Frobisher among the Chipeways, and to the Grand Portage, for the brothers, Joseph and Thomas, pushed westward until north-west. " Henry's voyageurs gathered furs from the they reached the Saskatchewan River. Three years later Indians on Lake Superior and began the advancement of Pond extended his activities still farther by opening the British mercantilism into the pays den haut, the vast trade in the profitable Athabasca region of what is now wilderness of the Northwest.^ Alberta. As the lines of trade were stretched from By 1767 eighteen canoes went from Michilimackinac Montreal to this far northwestern area, the need for a to Lake Superior carrying trade goods worth 7,481 pounds, 17 shillings, and fourteen canoes went beyond ^James Bain, ed.. Travels h Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories Between the Years 1760 and 1776 by Superior to the Northwest with cargoes worth 5,117 Alexander Henry, 12, 16^8, 48 (Boston, 1901); Jackson, in pounds, 10 shillings. In October, 1767, three companies Minnesota History, 11:236, 241; Brian L, Dunnigan, King's of traders who listed destinations beyond Lake Superior Men At Mackinac: The British Garrisons, 1780-1796, 13, 32 sent back to Michdimackinac 4,293 beaver pelts alone. (Reports in Mackinac History and Archaeology, no, 3 — Mack­ Jonathan Carver, who visited Grand Portage in July, inac, 1973). •'Charles E. Lart, ed., "Fur-Trade Returns, 1767, in 1767, says nothing about any buildings there, but he Canadian Historical Review. 3:352-58 (December, 1922); does record his meeting with a large party of Indians "Abstract of Indian Trade Licenses, 1768-76," in Governor who "were come to this place in order to meet the trad­ General of Canada Papers, Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa, ers from Michillimackinac, who make this their road to typexvritten copy in the Minnesota Historical Society; Jonathan the north-west. "^ Caix'er, Travels through the Interior Parts of North America in the Years 1766, 1767, and 1768, 107-13 (reprint edition, Min­ By 1775 ten British licenses were given out for as neapolis, 1956). many companies to send thirty-eight canoes of merchan­ "Bain, ed.. Travels ir Adventures, 2,35; "Abstract of In­ dise to Grand Portage. Henry, arriving at tbe portage on dian Trade Licenses, 1768-76, " in Governor General of June 28, 1775, commented that he "found the traders in Canada Papers,

200 Minnesota History base midway along the route was apparent. Grand Por­ rounded by the forests that stretched up die slopes of tage, at the gateway of the best water route from the nearby Mount Rose and Mount Josephine. Large Great Lakes to the West, became that supply base as Montreal canoes and small sailing vessels arrived at the well as the annual rendezvous point for the Montreal bay each June bearing company partners to inspect the partners and the winterers.^ furs collected from the Indian hunters over the year. From the time — perhaps about 1768 — when John Inside the dwellings each clerk probably had a store on Askin, a Mackinac trader, built the first cabin in a the ground floor and beds in the loft for himself, his cleared opening overlooking Grand Portage Bay, to the interpreter, and his canoemen. Northeast of Grand Por­ outbreak of the American Revolution, four pabsaded log tage Creek were scattered the white tents of inde­ cabins or 'Torts" had been constructed by competing pendent traders and winterers.® groups of British traders upon a glacial beach level sur- Each June men like Henry, who had wintered in the pays d'en haut, also headed for Grand Portage. They ^ Harold A. Innis, "Peter Pond and the influence of Capt. traveled eastward in small birch-bark North canoes, de­ James Cook on exploration in the interior of North America, " scended the Pigeon River to Fort Charlotte, and carried in Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of their furs across the nine-mile trail to the rendezvous on Canada, series 3, 22:135-.37 (May, 1938); Charies M. Gates, Grand Portage Bay. There, amid much feasting and rev­ ed,. Five Fur Traders of the Northwest. 12 (St. Paul, 196,5). elry the ninety-pound packs of muskrat, raccoon, bear, ^On die cabin built by Askin (sometimes spelled Erskine), fox, marten, mink, fisher, otter, and the much-prized see Grace Lee Nute, ed., "A British Legal Case at Old Grand Portage," in Minnesota History, 21:134 (June, 1940). Askin was beaver brought by tbe winterers were counted by one of sending his sailing sloops to Grand Portage at least by 1778; see the company partners. About a month later the winter­ note 15, below. Four buildings are indicated on Patrick ers would begin their return journeys to assigned posts McNiff's map of the North Shore of Lake Superior, 1794, in in the interior, carrying with them canoe loads of such Ontario Provincial Archives, Toronto, discussed on p. 207, be­ trade goods as tools, trinkets, kettles, liquors, blankets, low. The fact that they were stockaded is mentioned in "Trade in the Lake Superior Country in 1778, " an unsigned memo­ cloth, flintlock muskets, gunpowder, and shot.'' randum to Sir Guy Carleton, January 20, 1778, inMichigan His­ By 1778 Grand Portage had become the keystone of torical Collections, 19:337 (1891). The companies trading there tbe Montreal fur trade and die evolving group that was in this period included Montreal merchants Isaac Todd and Richard McNeall (1769); Lawrence Ermatinger (1769, 1772, soon to emerge as the North West Company. The city's 177.5); Charles Patterson, James McGill, and Benjamin merchants who belonged to the shifting coalition of trad­ Frobisher (1774); and Maurice Blondeau (1769, 1770, 1772, ers in tbe formative North West organization apparently 1775). See "Abstract of Indian Trade Licenses, 1768-76," Gov­ became alarmed at the increasingly violent competition ernor General of Canada Papers. among companies that used Grand Portage. They were For later descriptions of Grand Portage, see Alexander also fearful of American influence among the Indians and Mackenzie, Voyages from Montreal, on the River St. Lau­ rence . 1789 and 1793, xliii-xlvii (London, 1801); Gates, the loss of pelts to "rebel" traders. Major Arent S. De ed.. Five Fur Traders, 92-95; and Solon J. Buck, "The Story of Peyster, commandant of the small British garrison at Grand Portage, " in Minnesota History Bulletin, 5:14-27 (Feb­ Michilimackinac, urged the Indians not to deal with "reb­ ruary, 1923). el" traders and threatened not to allow traders to reach ''Bain, ed.. Travels ix Adventures, 236. The rendezvous is those who did so. The British did not wish to encourage described by Buck, in Minnesota History Bulletin, 5:31 and Grace Lee Nute, The Voyageur, 64 (reprint edition, St, Paul, another Pontiac conspiracy like that of 1763.® 1966). On varieties of furs shipped to England from the col­ It was against this background that the Montreal onies, see Murray G. Lawsoii, A Study of English Mercan­ merchants successfially pressured the British military to tilism, 1770-1775, 87-102 (University of Toronto History and send a small detachment of soldiers to Grand Portage in Economics Series, vol. 9 — Toronto, 1943); on trade goods, see the summer of 1778. On October 6, 1777, Captain Ed­ Mackenzie, Voyages from Montreal, xxv; Robert C. Wheeler et al. Voices from the Rapids; An Underwater Search for Fur ward Foy, adjutant to Sir Guy Carleton, the British Trade Artifacts, 1960-73, 55-93 (St. Paul, 1975). governor of Quebec, wrote the following brief note to ^For a lucid, brief account of the formative period of the Lieutenant Colonel Mason Bolton, commander of the North West Company and the importance of Grand Portage, see King's Eighth Regiment of Foot; "I am commanded to Edwin E. Rich, Montreal and the Fur Trade, 72-78 (Montreal, acquaint you that upon an appfication from the Mer­ 1966); Stevens, Northwest Fur Trade, 51, 58, 61. chants concern'd in the trade at the Grand Portage, or­ ^Foy's note appears at the bottom of a letter from Carleton to Bolton, September 24, 1777, in Frederick Haldimand Pa­ ders are Sent to Major De Peyster to furnish an Officer pers, 99:180, Public Archives of Canada, copy in Marie and twelve men to remain there every year during the Gerin-Lejoie Papers, Minnesota Historical Society. The Carle­ time which the Merchants take to transact their business ton letter as well as the unsigned order to De Peyster, October at that place, for the purpose of preserving order and 6, 1777, is printed in Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collec­ regularity among the people who resort there." Orders tions, 10:280 (1888). See also Foy to William Knox, British undersecretary of state for American affairs, March fO, f778, in bearing the same date were transmitted to Major De Wisconsin Historical CoUections, f2:48 (f892). Peyster at Michilimackinac.^

Summer 1975 201 JOHN ASKIN built the armed sloop "Welcome" (left) in 1775 to transport furs and goods. Major De Peyster bought it in 1778. It was 55 feet long, 16 feet wide, and carried up to 45 tons. In 1781 it was lost in a .storm. The "Welcome " is under reconstruction (above) at Fort Michilimackinac.

But the merchants were not yet through with Gover­ master" or pay the debt in furrs or money. " nor Carleton, and on January 20, 1778, they sent him a 4. That tbe "infamous custom of engaging the lengthy memorandum spelling out just what they wished men of other Trade[r]s before their time was the mifitary to do at Grand Portage. Tbe financiers called out should be declared null and void and any attention to tbe importance of the portage xvith its annual credit given on such faith be lost to the Trader." returns of just under 40,000 pounds sterling and stated 5. That the "invariable custom . that the last out that nearly 500 persons were employed xvho met for fitter should be the first paid and any writt from "about a month in the summer" during a "general ren- the Courts of Justice should be enforced by the officer dezx'ous' there. They went on to say that the traders commanding — which will prevent absconding Debtors had built "tolerable Houses; and in order to cover them (who are seldom the best of men) from becoming a nui­ from any insult from the numerous savage Tribes, who sance in that Country. " resort there during that time, have made stockades 6. That in "disputes between tbe Trader and Canoe around them. " The memorandum stated that "Amongst man tbe officer ought to be the sole Judge " or at least cast so great a number of people not the most moral or en­ the deciding vote. lightened . there must infallibly be Jarring & dis­ 7. That because the Indians "were formerly used to a putes, as many separate interests are to be commanding officer" making "some show and parade served. " Its writers then got doxvn to business, listing such as hoisting colors 6f firing guns at their arrival at the seven ways they hoped tbe militaiy officer sent to the Posts " and giving "colours and other marks of distinc­ portage would be authorized to restore order and "pre­ tion," the traders "have acted a similar part; but now vent the evil from increasing. "^•' such practice ought to cease, and presenting medals 1. By "insisting strongly xvith the Savages that they above all other things to be at an end," although a "fexv do not attempt to stop any Traders from passing on their from the commanding officer wdl be of sei'vice. " lands." Tbe memorandum went on to suggest that only "a 2. By publishing "before tbe Traders & their sei'vants very few soldiers would be wanted" for die trip, and that that the latter must strictly conform to their agreements they should leave Michilimackinac by June 10 at the which should absolutely be in writing , as many latest and return in August. When the officer had fixed disputes arise from want of order in this particular." upon "a proper place for erecting a little Fort, the Trad- 3. That "it has ever been customary that a canoe man who falls indebted to bis master" must work out his 1° Unsigned memorandum to Carleton, January 20, 1778, debt to the trader by "further service with tbe same in Michigan Hi.storical Collections. 19:337-39 (1891).

202 Minnesota History ers ought to furnish each bis part of the Wood for build­ outlining the provisions he was to make for the soldiers ing," or the trader remaining at the portage to winter arrival. Askin informed tbe clerk that "'An officer and could build it and the others pay for their shares. some soldiers are to pass the summer at Grand Portage. Perhaps at least in part in preparation for his stay at Please try to have a house ready for them which they can Grand Portage, Lieutenant Thomas Bennett, post ad­ use until able to provide for diemselves. It should have a jutant of the garrison at Fort Michibmackinac, saded to chimney. Also be so good as to have your men prepare Detroit and back in late April and early May, 1778, car­ 200 pickets, 14 feet in length, and have them put on tbe rying letters and a quantity of xvine and tea which he beach [as a barrier?] between the old fort and yours. delivered to John Askin. Askin's sloop "Welcome " made That wifl be tbe North West Company's share of pre­ frequent trips betxveen Detroit and Michifimackinac in paration for the officer and his men." In the same letter 1778, but it seems likely that Bennett made the trip in a Askin asked the clerk to have Bennett secure for him two smaller boat in an effort to procure supplies for the garri­ pretty Indian slave girls between 9 and 16 years old as son. In those days soldiers at Mackinac might get a daily household sei'vants.^^ ration of one pound of flour, a half pound of pork, some Askin wrote again to Barthe at the Sault on May 29: corn, and % pint of rum, when these articles were avail­ "I have engaged Big Charlie [an Indian?] to go as guide able. About the same time, on April 15, 1778, Sergeant witii Mr. Bennett to the Grand Portage. After that he is Langdown drew from His Majesty's stores at Michili­ to sail . in tbe De Peyster until Mr. Bennett is ready mackinac 38 pounds of 24-penny nails and 44 pounds of to return, about the end of August. I shall pay him 10-penny nails "for use of the King's Works Carrying on 200 fivres for going with Mr. Bennett to tbe Grand Por­ here and at the Grand Portage. "^^ tage and back as guide. . Ifit happens that Mr. Ben­ On May 18, 1778, John Askin wrote to Jean Baptiste nett needs 4 or 5 barrels of rum let him have it and I Barthe, his partner at Sault Ste. Marie at the eastern end shall retiirn it to you from here [Michilimackinac]."^'* of Lake Superior, reminding him to forward to Grand Lieutenant Bennett probably left Jean Baptiste Portage the supplies that bad been ordered by the trad­ Bartbe's fur-trading establishment at the Sault near the ers rendezvousing there and to send along Bennett's end of May, f77S, with Sergeant Langdown, five sol­ tools on board Askin's sailing ship "De Peyster." In­ diers of the regiment, and seven canoemen furnished by cluded were one crosscut saw, one handsaw, one adz, the traders "to Conduct them to tbe Portage and back" one spade, two shovels, one auger, one pick ax, two to Michilimackinac. Major De Peyster later reported: "I ""Hand Bills" (pruning books), one trowel, two took upon me to supply tbe officer with Two bales of Dry ""Gimblets" (hand drills), and one ""Clawed Hammer. "^^ Goods, a bale of Tobacco, one Hundred gallons of Rum On May 24 Askin also wrote to Joseph M. Beausoleil, and some pork and flour, to enable him to receive the clerk for the North West coalition at Grand Portage, visits from tbe Indians. I also sent Two Swivels [balf-

"Milo M. Quaife, ed,. The John Askin Papers,1:80, 81, 83, K'*^;;*' 90, 163 (Detroit, 1928). On Langdown, see Michigan Histori­ ecd Collections, 10:284, See also David A. Armour, "Askin's WELCOME will sail again, " in Telescope, 139 (September- October, 1973); Dunnigan, King's Men At Mackinac, 11, Ben­ nett was later officially appointed general adjutant of the Eighth Regiment of Foot on December 2, 1778. See Hal­ dimand to Bennett, British Museum, Add. Mss. 21745, copy in the Public Archives of Canada, ^^Quaife, ed,, A,S'^'!ri Papers, 1:93 (French translation); "Return of Engineer's Stores," Haldimand Papers, in Michigan Historical Collections. 19:3.58 (1892), "Quaife, ed,, A,S'A-!)? Papers, 1:9 (French translation). A slightly different translation appears in Wisconsin Historical Collections, 19:239 (1910), and in Erxvin N, Thompson, Grand Portage: A History of the Sites, People, and Fur Trade, 30, a report issued by the National Park Sei'X'ice, Division of His­ tory, in June, 1969, Thompson chooses to read the French phrase "sur La greve " as "erected a barrier,' while Quaife interprets it as "on the beach," Thompson also speculates that MAJOR ARENT the "old fort" perhaps refers to Askin's early cabin, and the S. DE PEYSTER other structure may have been that built later by the North West traders, i^Quaife, ed,, Askin Papers. 1:103 (French translation), Bennett did get the rum. See A.skin Papers. 1:118, 126.

Summer 1975 203 WATER-COLOR PAINTINGS by an F. Milner, entitled "8th Regiment of Foot, 1768-1785," provide details of the uniforms worn by officers and enlisted men. The coats were red with dark blue and white facings. Enlisted men wore fur caps; officers wore red .sashes and tricorn hats.

'^^••

pounders] mounted upon Carriages with two Barrels of black tricorn hat. Perhaps he fired his half-pounders in powder for Saluting, and Tools for erecting a Fort." The salute from the sailing vessel. Tbe next day the men supplies may have been carried aboard Askin's two small probably fastened tbe "swivels" to their carriages on an saihng ships, the ""De Peyster" and the "Mackinac," improvised parade ground. That afternoon with a roll of which were plying Lake Superior at that time.^^ drums, the troops may have raised the British ensign on In any case, following the North Shore on the way to a wooden flagpole. The drums would roll as Bennett Grand Portage, "they were cast on the rocks on Lake gave a King George HI medal to the chief of the Chip­ Superior but lost nothing but ammunition and provi­ pewa band at Grand Portage. Perhaps be also gave sdver sions. " Major De Peyster secured more corn and supplies gorgets to the headmen of the Reindeer (or Caribou) and from Askin. On June 27, 1778, Askin wrote that the "Mackinac" was sent straight through to the portage on 15 De Peyster to Deputy Adjutant General, December 16, its second trip, presumably to replace the soldiers' 1778, in Haldimand Papers, microfilm copy in the Minnesota supplies. Thirteen days earlier Askin had written crypti­ Historical Society; this letter is printed in part in Michigan cally to his Montreal associates, Todd and McGill: "Be­ Historical Collections, 9:37f. On the ships, xvhich were decked fore Lieut Bennett left [Michibmackinac] I did vessels reportedly weighing perhaps 12 and 15 tons, see Quaife, ed., Askin Papers, 1:93, 97, 151; Grace Lee Nute, Lake what I thought necessary in order that your Co[mpaiiy] Superior, 117 (Indianapolis, 1944); Erxvin N. Thompson, at the Portage should still pass for what it actually is, the Grand Portage National Monument Great Hall, 24, a report most respectable both as to proprietors & amount. " A issued by the National Park Sei'X'ice, Office of History and month later he told Todd and McGill that Lieutenant Historic Architecture, in May, 1970. The number of soldiers is Bennett's account should be charged to Askin. ^^ reported in De Peyster to Haldimand, September 16, 1778, Haldimand Papers, in Michigan Historical Collections. 9:370. One can imagine Lieutenant Bennett arriving at i^De Peyster to Cadeton, June 29, 1778, in Michigan His­ Grand Portage in his scarlet coat with its blue facings and torical Collections, 9:367, and in Wisconsin Hi.storical Collec­ gold lace, red sash, white waistcoat and breeches, and tions, 11:112 (1888); Quaife, ed,, A.skin Papers, f:127, 151.

204 Minnesota History Pike totem famifies of Chippewa fiving diere. Bennetfs soldiers would then again have fired their cannons in salute.^'' .^•:-'^ Next the Indians probably did a dance for the sol­ diers to the beat of Indian drums. As Thomas L. McKenney described such an occasion in 1826, the Chippewa men danced in a crude circle, jumping, and leaping on their feet. Some were painted, some had braided hair, and some wore feathers in their hair. Some wore animal skins on their legs and others wore beaded buckskin or woolen leggings tied to leather belts over which lay woolen or buckskin breechcloths. Most of them wore decorated deerskin moccasins xvith puckered toes. After tbe ceremonial dance, the soldiers may have handed out a few trade goods as presents.^* A STRIKING VARIETY of buttons was ivorn on the The beutenant probably lost no time in putting bis unifotms of the King's Eighth Regiment. Archaeologists canoemen to work building a little fort. It xvas con­ found these at Fort Michdinuickinac. Some have the structed ten feet from the sandy beach and 300 yards identification, "K:s 8," and two portray galloping horses from the older palisaded cabins. Before they left in Au­ — an oddity for an infantry unit. Enlisted men wore pew­ gust, the canoemen had partially built a barracks or little ter buttons; officers wore gold. fort for the soldiers, approximately f8 by 58 feet in size in the post-on-sill style of architecture. The building was about half completed when the troops departed. ^^ During the two months' stay at Grand Portage, Ben­ enlisted men of this regiment xvould not have been ideal nett also kept the soldiers of the King's Eighth Regi­ clothing for such work. Like the officers, the men wore ment of Foot busy laying out and building a public road red coats faced in dark blue and xvhite and trimmed in from the sandy beach to the ford of Grand Portage Creek lace and white breeches held up by suspenders with iron north of the Grand Portage Trail. The uniforms of the or steel buckles. Their legs were covered by black linen gaiters over stockings, and on their feet they wore '•' Dunnigan, King's Men At Mackinac, 13, 20; William leather shoes or buckskin moccasins. Privates also Warren, History of the Ojibway Nation (Minnesota Historical sported a pair of cross belts supportfng a cartridge box on Collections, 5:52, 84 — St, Paul, 188.5), Such a medal has been the right side and a bayonet on tbe left. Sergeants were handed down in the Flatte family at Grand Portage, and John supposed to carry a sword and a halberd. The pexx'ter Flatte has it today. See p, 208, below, i^Thomas L, McKenney, Sketches of a Tour to the Lakes, buttons on the enlisted men's uniforms as well as their 285 (reprint edition, Minneapolis, 1959), fur caps bore the '"K:s 8" insignia of tbe King's Eighth i^De Peyster to Haldimand, September 16, 1778, and "In­ Regiment of Foot.2" ventories, Bills of Accounts, and Returns, " Haldimand Papers, Wearing all this clothing and using the tools sent up in Michigan Historical Collections, 9:371, 6.52, list the amount of wood cut. From these figures, Afan R. Woobvorth, Min­ on the ""De Peyster, " the soldiers must have cut down nesota Historical Society chief of archaeology, who conducted trees, pulled out stumps, roots, and rocks, and filled in excavations at Grand Portage for the National Park Sei'vice, muddy spots with wood. Whde they xvere widening and calculated that a building of this size could have been erected. leveling the road, they may have also built a small The site of this fort, which was later occupied by the XY Com­ pany and referred to as "Boucher's Fort, ' was discovered by a wooden bridge over the ford of the creek using the band national park ranger in the trees north of Grand Portage Creek, drills, auger, hammer, and nails in their supplies. See Nute, in Minnesota History. 21:119. Bennett and his men were back at Michilimackinac 20 De Peyster to Haldimand, January 29, 1779, Haldimand by August 21, 1778. The only military expedition to Papers, in Michigan Historical Collections. 9:378, and Wiscon­ Minnesota during the Revolutionaiy War cost Askin and sin Historical Collections, 11:123, inquires if "your Excellency the other fur traders 9,000 fivres in supplies. It is clear will please to allow the officer any [extra?] pay for his laying out and directing the route at the Portage, " On uniforms, see that the expedition's principal purpose was economic Dunnigan, King's Men At Mackinac, 9, 10, 13, rather than military. Indeed, General Frederick Hal­ 2"^ Haldimand to De Peyster, December 25, 1778, and "Re­ dimand, who replaced Carleton as governor of Quebec, turn of Engineer's Stores, April 1-Septeiiiber 30, 1778," both said as much in a Christmas letter to Major De Peyster; in Michigan Historical Collections, 9:355, 651, The latter in­ "The party at the grand portage was ordered at the in­ dicates the August date for Sergeant Langdown who xx'as then apparently back at Michibmackinac "repairing the King's Bat- struction of the Merchants for their benefit," he wrote, teaus." For the cost to tiie traders, see De Peyster to Deputy "and it is unreasonable in them to expect Government to Adjutant General, December 16, 1778, in Haldimand Papers, bear any part of the Expense attending it."^*

Summer 1975 205 \

ducted himself to the general satisfaction of all pres­ ent." 22 It was expected that the troops would return to Grand Portage during the summer of 1779. Bennett hired voyageurs Louis Chandonnet and Pierre La Vas- seur to cut and prepare timber during the winter of 1778-79 in anticipation of another year's visit. To do the work, the voyageurs were provided with four large axes, one covered kettle, one large auger, two whitefish nets, two cod lines, fourteen bushels of hulled Indian corn, seven barrels of flour, and 340 pounds of Montreal pork. They cut, sawed, or squared 2,300 pieces of timber and planks at Grand Portage, perhaps intended for use in the partially completed barracks. For the winter's work and the voyageurs' supplies, the British army paid Charles Patterson and Company of Montreal 521 pounds, 13 shd- lings, and 4 pence in New York currency.^^ Early in 1779 the merchants of Montreal petitioned General Haldimand to return Lieutenant Bennett to Grand Portage that summer. On April 8, 1779, the gov­ ernor informed Major De Peyster that he had told the petitioners the major would send Bennett if he could spare him. Haldimand noted that the proposed second expedition was to be empowered "to settle the little dif­ ferences " that arose among the traders ""as well as to confine and send down any ill-effected or suspected per­ sons resorting there. " The expedition, however, was to be carried out, he said, without "any additional expence to the Crown."^^ But Bennett and the men of the King's Eighth Regi­ ment never returned to the great carrying place, for the Americans had taken a hand in the war in the Missis­ sippi Valley, and Colonel George Rogers Clark cap­ tured British Lieutenant Governor Henry Hamilton early in 1779. This development created a sense of cau­ tion in the British garrisons on the Great Lakes, and Major De Peyster, who was to succeed Hamilton as commander of Fort Lernoult in Detroit, instead dis­ A SMALL SECTION of the McNiff map of the North patched Bennett to Fort St. Joseph near what is now Shore of Lake Superior shows Grand Portage, bottom, Niles, Michigan, in July, 1779, to intercept a rebel fur far left. North is at the top, .so this part must be turned trader sent out by the Americans at Vincennes in the upside down to read. The dotted line traces a ship's route Illinois country.25 with directions, distances, and locations. The island In 1780 Captain Patrick Sinclair, now commandant at McNiff calls "Isle de Minotte" is probably Isle Royale. Michilimackinac, noted that the king's tools were still at Grand Portage. Sinclair complained that "The North

How successful Bennett was in controlling "Jarring & 22See De Peyster to Haldimand, in Michigan Historical Collections, 9:37(). disputes " and restoring law and order among the traders ^^ "Inventories, Bills of Accounts, and Returns, " Hab is not known. The lieutenant was under orders to have diniand Papers, in Michigan Historical Collections, 9:652. the traders enter into a dedit or agreement and to have ^-i Haldimand to De Peyster, April 8, 1779, in Michigan them sign a bond of forfeiture not to enlist any canoeman Hi.storical CoUections, 9:3.56. without a regular discharge in writing from his former "De Peyster to Haldimand, Max 2, 1779, Haldimand Pa­ pers, in Michigan Historical Collections, 9:379. On Bennett's master. Exactly how Bennett carried out these orders is assignment, see Michigan Historical Collections, 9:382, 389- not recorded, but on September 16, 1778, Major De 97, I0:.348-53, I9;455, or \iasco)i.s'(ii Hi.storical Collections, Peyster reported to Haldimand that Bennett had "con­ 18:,376-t01 (1908).

206 Minnesota History West society are not better than they ought to be, " and ently became involved in land speculation in Ohio and asked that no passes be given to the Nor'-westers to trade Michigan. When the Americans occupied Detroit in on the Great Lakes that year until the king's stores were 1796, Askin and Bennett lost their land. Askin returned returned. Furthermore, Sinclair wrote. Lieutenant Ben­ to Windsor, Ontario, Canada, and Bennett settled in the nett would be able to inform General Haldimand about United States.^'^ the "Disposition of the Indians " at the great carrying Bennett's expedition to Grand Portage in 1778 was to place. 2^ have one more rather unexpected result. In 1794 the From late April, 1781, until mid-June, 1782, Bennett British mifitary decided that it would be desirable to was apparently in Detroit, where he was present at vari­ draw a map of the remote parts of Lake Superior. Since ous Indian councds held there. In August, 1782, Bennett actual surveys had "not as yet been made," Deputy was briefly back at Mackinac for about a month while the Grown Surveyor Patrick McNiff, who received the as­ Eighth Regiment of Foot was engaged in finishing the con­ signment, based his map on ""the journal remarks of a struction of the new fort on Mackinac Island. Two years Lieut Bennet[t] of 8th Regt. in his Route from the Sault later it is known that Bennett, now a captain, was again Ste Mary's to the Grand Portage. " Bennett's journal has stationed at Detroit. Having served in America since not been located, but McNiff's map, delineating a por­ 1768, the Eighth Regiment to which Bennett belonged tion of the Canadian shore of Lake Superior between the was transported back to England in September, 1785. Sault and the Pic River, has survived.2* Five years later Bennett retired from the army, sold his Although the British military expedition to Grand commission in England for 2,000 pounds, and returned Portage in 1778 did not provide any long-term solutions to the United States, where he and John Askin appar- to the trading problems at the western end of Lake Superior, indirectly the American Revolution did. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the war in 1783, placed 26Sinclair to D. Brehni, May 29, 1780, in Michigan Hi.stor­ Grand Portage in American territory. The treaty, how­ ical Collections, 9:552. 2''On Bennetfs movements, see Michigan Historical Col­ ever, had no immediate effect on the operations of the lections, 10:472, 543, 587; 11:423; 20:44, 237, 259; Dunnigan, North West Company there, and the firm continued to King's Men At Mackinac, 17-19, .33; Chades H. Steward, grow and flourish until it monopolized the trade on the comp.. The Service of British Regiments in Canada and North upper Great Lakes in the 1780s and 1790s. That situation America: A Resume, 99 (Ottawa, 1964); [Thomas Hughes], A began to change after the ratification of Jay's Treaty of Journal by Thos: Hughes, 141 (Cambridge, England, 1947); David Mercer to Askin, April 29, 1790, in Quaife, ed., Askin 1794 under the terms of which the British at long last Papers, 1:364. British Anny, British Army Lists and Records, agreed to withdraw from posts in the United States by 1790, p. 84, in William L. Clements Library, University of 1796. To speed the process, American customs officers Michigan, Ann Arbor, dates Bennetfs commission as captain began to levy large duties on British goods using the on September 13, 1783. Great Lakes, and the American Congress on March 30, 2^Dated October, 1794, McNiff's map is in the Ontario 1802, passed an act which seemed to say that trading Provincial Archives. See also McNiff to D.W. Smith, October 19, 1794, Surveyors Letters, vol. 3, no. 99, in Ontario Provin­ permits would not be issued to British citizens. About cial Archives. A smaller version of McNiff's map is printed in the same time the Americans threatened to levy a tax on Bain, ed.. Travels 6- Adventures, facing page 232. everything that went up tbe Grand Portage Trail.^^ 2^ For Jay's Treaty, see United States, Statutes at Large, 8:80-88. On the levying of custom duties and the financial The North West Company, seeing the handwriting effects of American control on the North West Company, see on the wall, decided to abandon Grand Portage. Some­ [William McGilhvray], "Note, " in Public Archixes of Canada, time between 1801 and 1803 the company — in part to Report for the Year 1928, 71; testimony of Daxid Thompson, avoid the financial problems American independence McGillivray, and others, in 22 Congress, 2 session, House had created for it — began building across the border in Documents, no. 451, p. 119, 123, 128, 129, 131 (serial 331); David Lavender, The Fist in the Wilderness, 42, 43 (Nexv York, Canada the fur trade depot that was to become Fort 1964). William on Thunder Bay. The firm probably carried off 3" Edwin E, Rich, The Fur Trade and the Northwest to to Thunder Bay on its sailing vessels windows, doors, 1857, 189-93 (Toronto, 1967); Gabriel Franchere, "Narrative locks, and hardware from the Great Hall at Grand Por­ of a Voyage, " in Reuben G, Thwaites, ed,. Early Western tage and demofished the rest of the buildings there, per­ Travels, 1748-1846, 6:386 (Cleveland, 1904). Detailed archaeo­ haps about 1805.30 logical excavations were begun at the site of the Great Hall in 1970 by Alan R. Woolworth and the author. Very little Attempts by Paul Hervieux to trade at Grand Portage exidence of building hardxvare or xvindow glass was found. The under an American license in 1802 led to the destruction absence of such materials suggests that reusable building com­ or loss of his supplies and goods. In a successful legal ponents were removed for reuse at Fort William, a procedure known to have occurred at other fur posts. In the late case before the Court of the King's Bench in Montreal in eighteenth century, many manufactured items were expen­ 1804, Dominique Rousseau, Hervieux's employer, re­ sive. This was particularly true on the frontier, where the cost of covered part of his losses from the North West Com­ transportation further increased the prices of these objects. pany. Rousseau again challenged the company in 1806 in

Summer 1975 207 a second case which was settled out of court. This one to Minnesota in the American Revolution. Today Grand involved a trader named De Lorme, who with an Ameri­ Portage is a national monument, and the North West can license wanted to cross the great carrying place in Company's buildings of its heyday are being re­ 1806, but Alexander McKay and North West Company constructed by the National Park Service. Both Forts men came down from Fort Wifliam and "proceeded to Michilimackinac (at Mackinaw City) and Mackinac, the fell trees across the road, at the portages, and on all the later island post where Lieutenant Bennett served narrow creeks" so that De Lorme could not use the briefly during its construction, have also been restored Grand Portage.^^ and are now Michigan state parks open to the public A merger of the North West Company and the Hud­ during the summer months. son's Bay Company in 1821 at last brought an end to the fierce rivalries among British traders of the period. ^'Earl of Selkirk, A Sketch of the British Fur Trade in When David Thompson visited Grand Portage in 1822 to North America, 56-61 (London, 1816); Nute, in Minnesota survey the boundary, he found "red clover blooming History, 21:118-20, over depressions in the soil" that marked the sites of •^^Nute, Lake Superior, 308; Schoolcraft, in 22 Congress, 1 buildings. But competition between British and Ameri­ session. Senate Documents, no, 90, p, 43 (serial 213). can firms continued. Even as late as 1824 the Hudson's Bay Company still controlled the Indian hunters living at THE PHOTOGRAPH on page 198 is by Kenneth Car- Grand Portage. Henry R. Schoolcraft reported that ley, The drawing of the "Welcome," the photograph of its when John Johnston, an American customs officer and fur reconstruction on page 202, and photographs of buttons trader, went to Grand Portage to trade in f 824, he found on page 205 are all published through the courtesy of the Mackinac, Island State Park Comniission. Reproduction of the Chippewa being ""carried off in trains" to Fort the paintings on page 204 is through the courtesy of the William by British traders who wished to "prevent their Public Archives of Canada. The McNiff map on page 206 is furs from being sold to American traders. "^2 published through the courtesy of the Ontario Archives, A copy of Patrick McNiff's map of 1794, a few paint­ Toronto. The portrait of Major De Peyster on page 203 is ings of the Revolutionary War period, and some artifacts from Arent Schuyler De Peyster, Miscellanies by an Officer, frontispiece (1888), Photographs of John Flatte's medals on page recovered in archaeological excavations at Grand Por­ 208 are by Nancy D. Korf National Park Service, Grand Marais. tage and Fort Michilmackinac are all that remain to re­ The photograph of Mike Flatte, John's father, on page 208 is mind us of the colorful pageantry that unfolded almost from the society's collection. Map on page 200 is by Alan 200 years ago during the only British military expedition Ominsky,

A FADED Union Jack is held up by Mike Flatte, chief of the Grand Portage In­ dians, in the 1920s when this photograph was taken. The flag and the medals around his neck were given to his ancestors and passed down from one chief to the next.

SILVER PEACE medals with the like­ ness of King George III now belong to John Flatte, chief of the Grand Portage Indi­ ans. The medal shown at right has the date 1814 on its reverse side. It was probably given to the Indians by the British after the War of 1812. A much younger King George appears on the other medal, and it may be much older. Both have the royal coat of arms, in .slightly different versions, on the reverse .sides.

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